Jeremy Cupp of LC Fabrications is a true original when it comes to building bikes, renowned for his ‘antique’ customs such as TT Deluxe. So this ’79 XS650 custom, called ‘Chicken Salad’ is a departure from Cupp’s usual style. Cupp got the bike from a friend who’d started work on it and then had enough, and when LC Fabrications had some down time, Cupp decided to see what he could make of this XS650. The result is a compact tracker-style custom but with a hard-tail back end and a cantilevered seat. The bars are stubbed right into the triple tree, and the tank is a cut-up old Honda CL360 item. The motor—which had only 11,000 miles on the clock—was boosted with a 750 cylinder kit from XS Performance, 36mm Mikuni round slide carburetion, and mild porting. And why ‘Chicken Salad’? According to Cupp, it’s from the saying ‘You can’t make chicken salad out of chicken shit’: “The guy I got this bike from gave it to us, because it was ‘just an effing Yamaha’. So I thought the name was appropriate!” Head over to XS650chopper.com for more pics and an interview with Cupp. [Thanks Ted. First two images by Nathan DiClaudio.]